


Memories

by ElliottRookArchive (ElliottRook)



Category: Early Edition (TV)
Genre: F/M, Vignette, but they're all in the same 'verse, not so much a cohesive fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-01-08
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23293675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElliottRook/pseuds/ElliottRookArchive
Summary: Gary reflects on how he got to where he is.
Relationships: Chuck Fischman/Jade, Gary Hobson/Original Female Character
Kudos: 2





	1. Memories

**Author's Note:**

> I don't see myself diving back into this fandom anytime soon (though anything is possible), but here's the fiction I wrote for it. If you start at the top and work your way down these stories fit into the same continuity--when FFN first debuted its chaptering system I actually put these all together, since they're really just vignette fics. I always preferred to focus more on Gary's personal life than on the paper-related drama. I created two major original characters, one being a love interest for Gary, and she's in almost all of these.

Gary plopped down on his couch. He looked at the bustling streets of the city before him, his beloved Chicago.

 _It must be because I love this city so much that I ended up with this paper,_ he thought.

Tomorrow's newspaper today took its toll on a body, that was abundantly clear. He had just stopped a ten-year-old skateboarder from falling in the sewer and drowning, and since he had almost been too late he was physically exhausted.

He began to reflect just how he had come to love the city, how he had come there, what had happened to him to make him _him_.

* * *

_Gary remembered little of his early years, they had been so...typical._

_Growing up in Hickory, Indiana was like growing up fifteen or twentyyears earlier than the rest of the world. It was only 150 miles to Chicago, but he never even saw it until he was eleven._

_His doting mother had helped him write an essay. Actually_ she _had written it, but Gary's teachers never knew. It won a contest, and the prize was Gary got to go to Chicago and read it in a larger contest, which if he won he would get to go Washington DC._

_He really didn't want to do it...he'd suggested that his mother go toChicago and read it, but she would not tolerate that._

_Many things happened to him that day, but the one that now had the most significance to him was the tour of the Chicago Sun-Times building._

_He had met an elderly (at least he was elderly to Gary, he might have been closer to fifty) typesetter by the name of Lucius Snow. Something had "clicked" between them, and they had several more encounters that day, including Snow pulling Gary from in front of a truck and thereby saving his life._

* * *

It took Gary several years of getting the paper before that day was called to his attention, but he had discovered Snow had chosen him for the job. That the paper was passed on from generation to generation. He had, in fact, chosen his successor, a young girl who lived in Chicago, but he hoped he had many years left of getting the paper before the baton was passed again.

Yes, when it came right down to it he _liked_ saving people's lives and even if he had a choice he wouldn't have had it any other way--no matter how much he complained.

Suddenly, the Cat jumped up on the back of the couch and began rubbing against his neck. "Meow." Gary reached around and put the Cat in his lap.

The Cat came with the paper, and remained nameless. He had belonged to Snow, and others before, and undoubtedly was quite old. Gary knew that he could never name a creature as fine as the Cat, so he was called "Cat" and referred to as "the Cat". Gary had wondered several times if Snow or any ofhis predecessors _had_ ever named him, and if so, what name they'd chosen, but he never really let it get to him.

The Cat settled in his lap and began to purr as Gary rubbed his neck with one hand and leafed through the paper with the other.

Finally he spotted a headline worth paying attention to. He read it aloud. "Girl Falls from Fire Escape, Fatal...At 6:47 p.m. yesterday Carla Sanders was pronounced dead on arrival at Chicago Community General Hospital. She had fallen six stories from a fire escape on the west side of her home at 4th and Colridge. The lone witness, her boyfriend, Jacob Godfry, said that he had come to get her for a date, and when he yelled up to her through the side window she came out on the fire escape and said she would come down momentarily. The fire escape collapsed and although she managed to grab onto a ladder on her way down, it also gave way and fell, landing on top of her. An autopsy was performed and it was concluded that she landed on her head, cracking her skull and causing massive brain damage. It was ruled she died almost instantly."

Gary checked his watch. 5:51. "Gotta go, Cat." He quickly stood and left the apartment. The Cat growled a bit at being dumped onto the floor like that, but Gary knew he had a short memory about such things.

* * *

Gary could hear the kid from a block away.

"Carla! Oh CARRRRRR-LAAAA!"

Gary ran a little faster. He ducked into the alleyway just in time to see a girl--Carla--step onto the fire escape and look down at her boyfriend on the ground.

"Jakie, hang on just a moment, 'kay?"

Gary shouted up to her. "Hey, get inside!"

She frowned. "And who do you think you are, mister?" she yelled.

"I'm a fire escape inspector and I happen to know that this one needs replacing! It's gonna fall!"

"Show me some ID, man," "Jakie" demanded.

Just them the metal groaned and gave way. Carla screamed. "Help me!" she cried, grasping for anything, and catching hold of the ladder just below her floor.

Gary quickly spotted an extension ladder leaning against the other side of the alley and got under it, giving it a shove so it would lean against the other wall. He clambered up it as quickly as he could manage and grabbed Carla around her waist nanoseconds before the ladder she was on crashed to the ground below.

"Oh...wow...thank you so much, Mister! But how did you know?"

"Nevermind how I know, but I believe you have a date with Jakie." He helped her onto the ladder in front of him and climbed down first to hold the ladder for her.

The second her feet touched the ground she was wrapped in Jakie's arms and Gary just backed off. He still remembered what it was like to be seventeen, and he knew that adult interference in romantic moments was not appreciated.

He remembered his first real girlfriend, and how he had felt about her...

* * *

_The day was etched into his memory so clearly. Or at least the important stuff was. It had started off routine, but at the end of the school day afriend--Gary had long forgotten who--had told him that he had a friend in Chicago, and that night they were each going to bring a bunch of friends to an abandoned lot there in Hickory and throw a huge party, and of course Gary was invited._

_He cleared it with his parents and went with a group of friends, figuring that there was not much else to do on a Thursday night in Hickory._

_It was just before sunset when two carloads of Chicagoan teenagers pulled into the lot, but even though there were ten of them Gary only noticed one._

_He got his friend to introduce him to the girl. Sora Marley was seventeen, with long Irish-red hair and dazzling sky blue eyes._

_They talked to no one but one another, and as it got late Gary offered to drive her home, since she didn't want to stick around waiting for the couples to finish their "activities"._

_They walked to his house and explained to his parents. Gary drove her home. Before she got out of the car, they did share one goodnight kiss, and the next thing Gary knew he had a girlfriend that he loved very much. The 150 miles to Chicago seemed to shrink to nearly nothing._

_They dated through the remainder of the school year and the summer. Gary graduated, and she prepared for her senior year._

_That September, he had left to go to college in New York, leaving her with a kiss good-bye and a promise to write ASAP._

_As it happened, he lost her address, and she didn't have his, so even though she still loved him, he assumed they had grown apart. By the time Sora joined him at the college, he was engaged to be married._

_He didn't realize at the time the pain she felt. He did know, however, that his bride, Marcia, and Sora did not get along. When he and Marcia finished college, they settled in Chicago, along with Gary's friend Chuck Fischman--a very odd, money-motivated but lovable guy._

_Sora returned to Chicago, her hometown, on her own. Her father had moved to his wife's hometown upon Sora's departure for college. Gary kept in touch with her, but he rarely saw her due to Marcia._

* * *

By this time Gary had reached McGinty's, the restaurant he co-owned with Marissa Clark. He had met Marissa not too long before his marriage soured and he started getting the paper.

* * *

_Right after college, Marcia had started as a lawyer and Gary as a stockbroker. Chuck was also a stockbroker, they worked at the same company at that time. That had been how they had met, in fact--they'd been in several classes together._

_At the stock company, everyone knew Marissa--the blind receptionist. She got to know Gary and Chuck particularly well, the three of them and Marcia were pretty much always together._

_The night of Gary and Marcia's fifth anniversary, he came home with a dozen roses only to have a suitcase thrown at him from the second story bedroom._

_Gary checked into a hotel, and spent several days trying to contact Marcia but with no luck._

_One morning the paper had arrived. It caused quite a stir with Chuck and Marissa, but it didn't take too long to realize that it came every day._

_The same day the first paper came, Gary was served divorce papers._

_He'd hurt, but he decided that the best thing to do was just to move on. Marissa and Chuck were there for him. Sora began to creep back into his life after all those six years. He was grateful for the friendship._

_He lived in the hotel several months before a fire burned him out. The Cat found him a place--McGinty's, the restaurant where he, Chuck and Marissa hung out, was going out of business. Chuck cashed in his stocks and bought it, and co-ran it with Gary. Gary lived in the apartment upstairs._

_After a while, Chuck decided to follow some big dreams--he wanted to become a TV producer. He left for Los Angeles and his part of McGinty's went to Marissa, who had been a big help ever since the beginning._

_Chuck came back to visit occasionally, after he made it somewhere with the T.V. thing. Although now, when he came he had an actress wife who came along._

* * *

Gary walked into the office to find Marissa. "Anything happen while I was gone?"

"Not anything as exciting as whatever you were doing," Marissa said. "Nope, nothing."

Gary grinned a little. This place made him happy--he was content here.

"So what were you doing?" Marissa asked.

"Uhh...teenage girl, falling fire escape."

"Ah." Marissa took a sip of her coffee, "Want some?" she asked.

"No thanks." Gary again began to riffle through the pages of the paper. He sighed, somewhat relieved. "I'm done for the day--there's nothing else here." He sat in the chair opposite Marissa, on the other side of the desk.

"Good. You can relax. It's not often you get to do that, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"Seems especially true since Erica left," Marissa informed him.

"Oh really? I hadn't noticed."

Marissa sighed. "I know you liked her, Gary, but even you know that if she wasn't happy it never would have worked."

"I know, Marissa, but that doesn't help me any. I'm going upstairs."

* * *

_It had been several months that Erica had worked at McGinty's, but somehow it seemed so much shorter than that to Gary._

_She'd come from New York City, fresh from a divorce--with her son Henry in tow. Gary had given her a job and had a crush on her for quite a while. He kept having to break dates, though, because the paper interfered. Just as she was about to give up on ever having a date with him, he told her about the paper. At first she hadn't believed him, but when she witnessed a rescue and a page of the paper Gary had dropped changed practically right before her eyes, they finally started to get rolling._

_However, things kept getting in the way. They were not sure where they were going in the relationship, and Erica deemed it best to just pick up and leave. She and Henry returned to New York._

_Gary had tried to chase after them, he really had, but he missed their train. He'd returned to McGinty's only to find a note saying they'd left two hours earlier than she'd planned anyway._

_That hurt him--but not as much as had Marcia. He'd hardly spent any real time with Erica. He'd concluded that what had hurt him so much was that she was not willing to at least try to work things out._

* * *

_Love never seems to go my way,_ he reflected. Oh, there were the five happy--well, okay, perhaps only the first four-and-a half-were _happy_ \--years with Marcia, but that had ended bitterly, too. _Isn't there anyone out there for me?_

The phone rang, and it was probably a good thing--it saved him the trouble of a pity party. He answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Gary, how goes the paper?"

He smiled a bit at Sora's voice. She really was a good friend. "Fine, fine," he told her. "As a matter of fact, I got everything taken care of. There's nothing left tonight."

"Really? Hey, I'm free tonight, too...you wanna get with Marissa and get a pizza?"

"Sounds great...I haven't had a night for myself in _ages_."

"Cool! Meetcha at McGinty's in half an hour?"

"Sure. See ya then."


	2. Second Chance

_rinnng..._

"Aaahh!" Sora Marley had, once again, fallen asleep waiting for the Weather Channel to tell her tomorrow's weather, and the ringing of her telephone jarred her awake.

_rinnng..._

"I hear you, I hear you." She picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Sora, what's up?"

"Hi, Gar, not much...I fell asleep trying to find out the weather...say, you know better than they do, tell me."

Sora could hear a paper shuffling about, and then "It's supposed to cool down a bit, but no precipitation just yet. Highs in the low 40's, cool enough for a jacket."

"Rats. I was hoping for snow."

Gary laughed. "I'll call you when the paper tells me."

Sora grinned. Being close friends with a guy who got tomorrow's newspaper today had its perks. "You do that. Hey, what'dja'want?"

"Oh, nothing, just hadn't heard from you in a while, checking up. In fact the last time I heard from you, you had a date with a...what was he, a stockbroker?"

"Yeah..."

"Well?"

"It bombed. Just like all my attempts at dating. He's looking for a Sagittarius, and I don't even know what my sign is."

Gary laughed again. "I don't know mine, either. Half the time I don't even remember my birthdate."

"Oh, I know that. September 19th...1974, I believe."

"I think so...but let's not bother with it. No matter what year it's several months off. Are you busy tonight? I was thinking, you, me, Marissa, pizza..."

"Nothing in the paper?" Sora quizzed, surprised.

"Well, there's a _very_ minor thing at five o'clock, but once that's done, I'm free to go."

She sighed a bit. "We always do the same thing when you have a night off. I come to McGinty's where you and Marissa are. Then we walk down the street to Tonia's Pizza, and the whole time we're munching one third-pepperoni and extra cheese, third-mushroom, sausage, Canadian bacon and olive, third-plain cheese pizza, we complain that we could have fixed ourselves a perfectly good pizza right at McGinty's."

Gary paused a moment. "Yeah, you're right. So what do you suggest?"

"I don't know...I'm just tired of everything being so... _routine_. I want...I don't know what I want, but this is getting monotonous."

"Well, Sora, if you keep doing what you're doing you'll keep getting what you're getting."

"Hmm...That's good. Where'd you hear that?"

"I think from Chuck, when he was on one of his seize-the-moment kicks...you know, him and his friend the Dalai Lama..."

Sora laughed. She _did_ know. "So I should stop trying to get a date?"

"They'll quit bombing if you do," Gary reminded her. "Maybe even if you stop looking and wait for one to come along it'll be the right one."

"You may have a point. You, on the other hand, had better get up off your duff pretty soon and start looking or you'll end up kinda like...well...Lucius Snow."

"Huh? I lost you there."

"Well, think, Gar, if Lucius Snow had had a wife, you could go to _her_ with your questions. Now do you want whoever gets the paper after you to be left in the dark?"

"Good point, but I really won't care...I'll be dead."

Sora laughed, glad he couldn't see her rolling her eyes. "Well, you have a few years left, yet...so are we doing pizza at Tonia's?"

"If you're free."

"I am."

"Good. Can you be at McGinty's about five forty-five, six?"

"Easily."

"All right, see you there."

"Gotcha." Sora hung up. Why was it this way? She liked him as more than just a friend, but she hid it, hoping he would have to get it out of her, like a secret. _Perhaps I hide it too well, if no one has noticed._

She sighed. They had been so happy going out, back in high school. She still liked him in _that_ way, and wished things could be like that between her and Gary again. _If only I were a year older, I could have gone to college with him...but it's too late now, and I'll have to wait on him..._

* * *

Gary thought about what Sora had said. He didn't want to be single _forever_ , but the paper afforded him little time to go out and look for someone.

He descended the stairs and popped into the office to talk to Marissa.

"Hey, Marissa, you, me, and Sora are going to Tonia's...she'll be here about six..."

"Umm, Gary, I can't...I have a date with Emmett, and he's supposed to pick me up about then...sorry."

"Oh...I guess I'll have to go call Sora back..."

"No need. There's no reason you two can't go without me. I mean, after all, if you needed a chaperone I'm not exactly the wisest choice..." Marissa laughed lightly, referring to her blindness.

Gary exhaled, "Yeah, I guess there's no reason. Say, Marissa, do you believe that if you keep doing what you're doing you'll keep getting what you're getting?"

"Well, I suppose. It makes sense."

"So if I was to want things to be...different, I should try to make them that way?"

"Yes, Gary, faint heart ne'er won fair lady."

His thoughts halted. "How do you do that?"

"Comes naturally, I guess...but if you're going to go change what you're doing to get what you want, be sure of what you want. And remember that sometimes the biggest surprises are right in front your face."

"Yeah, okay...I have to go save these people...little fender-bender, but one cab driver will be in critical condition..."

"See ya." Marissa bent back down to her Braille paperwork.

"Bye." Gary flew out the door.

* * *

Gary reached the intersection of the "accident". He began to flag down the cab.

The taxi did pull over, but the cabby began chewing Gary out. "Can't you see I _already_ have a passenger here, bub?"

The passenger became agitated, also. "Hey! I thought I was paying you twenty bucks to _hurry_ , you idiot!"

Just as Gary was about to tell the cabby what he thought, a car further up the street swerved to avoid hitting a young boy recently escaped from Mommy's grasp, and hit a fire hydrant.

The cabby stared in awe. "That's right where I was going to park and wait for him!" He jerked a thumb at his passenger. "That guy woulda killed me!" he said.

"Is that all the further it is? Suddenly I feel like walking. Here's your fee, and your twenty bucks, man, sorry about making you drive just ten blocks..."

"You're not from Chicago, eh?" the cabby asked, taking his money as the man shook his head.

The child's mother had taken him back, and was apologizing to the man in the car.

Gary smiled as he walked off before the cabby could ask him "where to?" After all, McGinty's was only ten minute's walk away, and he had half an hour. Plenty of time to reflect on what Marissa had said. _Sometimes the biggest surprises are right in front of your face._

He supposed she meant that he didn't have to go crazy with this, that all that was necessary right away was the want to change.

And she'd said to be sure of what he wanted. Well, it was true, love was like fire and it could do a multitude of good, but he'd been burned a few times and although the wounds had healed, if he tried again he risked another one.

But, on the other hand, it was obvious to him that he wanted to be married again. Marcia...well, she hadn't turned him off to marriage. She had made him realize he'd made a mistake, that just because you had a steady girlfriend and you could coincidentally afford a ring did _not_ make her the one. He had screwed up, he'd been burned, but fortunately he'd been left with minimal scars.

He'd even had several girlfriends since Marcia, but none of them had lasted more than a few weeks.

Gary sighed aloud. Then another thought occurred to him--what if Marissa had meant that he already knew a wonderful girl and simply overlooked her? He tried to think of all the single women he knew. Most of them were dating, and the rest that came to mind he couldn't even _imagine_ going out with.

Oh well, he'd gotten back to McGinty's and he could ponder it later.

"Hello?" he called. There were a few customers just getting off work, but rush hour wasn't for another thirty minutes or so.

"Hey, Gar," Sora called to him, standing up from her soda pop. "Marissa told me...she just left with Emmett, like, five minutes ago. So I guess it's just you and me."

"Yeah, I guess so."

They walked to Tonia's, ordered a half-pepperoni and extra cheese, half-mushroom, sausage, Canadian bacon and olive pizza, and out of habit sat on the same side of the booth with Sora on the outside.

Sora snickered. "Look. I was right. We're so used to giving Marissa her own side that we do it even if she's across town. Habit, habit, habit."

Gary found it funny, too. "Oh well. Our pizza's here." Sora helped the waitress set it on the table. "So we might as well just eat it where we are."

Sora agreed. She took a slice from her half (the pepperoni-and-extra-cheese-half) and took a bite before it ever touched her plate. "Hot. Hothothothothot," she said, taking a drink of her Dr. Pepper.

He laughed at her a little, and she elbowed him. "If we weren't such good friends I'd sock you for that."

He laughed again. "You probably would, but thankfully, we _are_ such good friends." Suddenly he became quiet. "We really are good friends, you know that, Sora?"

"Yeah," she agreed, "I'm glad."

"Do you remember those days back in high school?"

"That year. I remember that year so well." She was referring to her junior year, his senior. That was when they had met and kept up a relationship between his hometown of Hickory, 150 miles from her hometown of Chicago. "I don't have any qualms about calling it the best year of my life, Gary."

He blinked at her. "Really? But you never really wrote..."

"I know you lost my address and you couldn't afford to call that long of a distance and all that. But I never had your address, so I couldn't write to you at the college. Or, I should say, I couldn't _send_ you anything. I wrote a diary full of letters, I still loved you...it broke my heart when I heard about you and Marcia. I hated her for so long..."

"I never knew that...I thought you two just didn't get along."

"She broke my heart, Gary...sometimes I'm positive it never fully mended."

"Oh, Sora...so _that's_ why...uh, when did you stop hating her?"

"When she threw you out. Oh, don't get me wrong, I wanted, and still want you to be happy, but I couldn't help but think that maybe..."

By this time she was almost in tears. Gary put a hand on her near shoulder. "Suddenly I've lost my appetite...what say we put this in a box, and go to your house, and let me read a few of those unsent letters?"

Sora nodded and complied, not able to think straight. This wasn't how she had pictured telling him, but...

* * *

They walked to Sora's apartment, just a few blocks beyond McGinty's.

Gary stuffed the pizza into her disorganized fridge and then followed her into her room. She opened her equally disorganized closet and dragged her desk chair to the open door. He held it steady as she reached up to the far right and pulled out a thick diary.

"I know it says 'diary'," she told him, "but I never did use it for that."

He nodded, taking it from her and helping her down. Leaving the chair, they went into her living room and sat on her couch.

Gary read the first ten pages or so, which were filled with love, adoration, and hope for their future. Then he flipped toward the back. The mood, the feeling of the words did not change, although there was more doubt as to whether or not he'd waited for her. The last few letters asked him how he could have done that to her, and there was one very nasty one to Marcia in which Sora made threats to ruin the wedding, (which, as she told Gary aloud, she had not carried through with for his sake and his sake alone) and that she had signed, "Your worst nightmare".

Gary handed her the book in silence, trying to search her downcast eyes.

"I never knew about any of this, Sora...I...I...right now all I can say is that I am _so_ sorry I didn't wait for you, and that it was the biggest mistake of my life." He stood and put his hands on her shoulders as her tears began to fall, noiselessly but sincerely. "I never meant to hurt you, and I am truly sorry, but right now I need some time to think...I'll call you...if you still even want my friendship--if you can forgive me."

She nodded, hand over her eyes to try to hide the tears.

He left without a word.

* * *

The next few days made Sora especially glad for her job at a stable. A lot of the work was either mindless, so she could vent frustration, or required concentration, to keep her mind off of it. Horses were what she'd always wanted to work around, and she was quite an accomplished rider.

But suddenly, in the midst of waiting for that one phone call, it didn't matter. All she cared about was hearing what Gary had to say on reflection. Her evenings were spent watching game shows and bad "Brady Bunch" reruns so she had an excuse to have the phone within answering distance. She hung up on several telemarketers, something that she was usually too polite to do, just to keep the line free. She could hardly think for the craziness of wanting the phone to ring and it be him.

* * *

Gary thought good and hard about what had transpired.

Sora loved him, had never quit loving him. All her dates bombed, not because of _her_ , but because she had eyes only for him.

He wanted to eventually get married again. Marissa had said the best surprises are right in front of your face, and she'd been right. There was Sora.

Yes, he was pretty sure this was a good surprise. He also had a feeling Marissa had known about Sora's liking him, although she denied having actually heard anything about it from Sora herself.

So, yes, he did like the idea of him and Sora. He just wasn't sure what to do with it.

Nine days passed before he let Marissa confront him.

"You want my advice, don't you?" she asked him over McGinty's coffee that Saturday afternoon.

"Yeah."

"Then you ought to ask for it...but tell me, Gary, every time you sit there and mope over a girl, what do I tell you?"

Gary sighed. "You can sit there and wonder what went wrong, or you can go get the girl." It had been more than once that Marissa had issued the tried-and-true piece of advice.

Marissa brightened. "You remember more than I hoped for. Perhaps you've got a prayer after all...anyway, it still rings true. You need to go get her before you lose her completely, even as a friend. You've not spoken in nine days, Gary, she's bound to think you decided to just forget about her."

"All right. I'm going and getting her." Gary left half a mug of black coffee and a very satisfied friend behind as he headed out the door.

* * *

Sora heard a knock at her door and wondered who it would be, since she had just gotten home from work a few moments ago. She had even worked the past two Saturdays--it kept her mind off the whole ordeal. She figured it might be her cousin who lived down the hall, but she opened the door to a dozen red roses.

"These are for you, Sora, but I don't think they make up for all I've done to you."

"Gary!" Sora took the roses and laid them on the closest table as he shut the door. "Gary, you came!"

"I know I said I was going to call, but there are just some things that you just can't say on the phone."

"Like what?" Sora asked.

"Like this." He took her by the elbows and drew her close. "I'm so sorry. I can never make up for the pain I've caused you, but I would love to have a second chance." He kissed her gently on the cheek. "Will you give me...that chance?"

"As in be like we were in high school?" Already the tears fell again, although not as fast as before.

"If that means as in going out, yes."

Sora was enjoying every second of being that close to Gary, whispering every word. "Gary...you don't even need to ask...I just simply didn't know _you_ wanted that chance...but yes, of course, please...I've waited six years for this..."

He smiled and drew her closer. "I promise I won't misuse it, Sora...but...I'd like to seal my promise with a kiss."

Sora tilted her head back and smiled. "I'm waiting."

She felt him kiss away the last of her teardrops, and then her lips met his, bringing back a sort of ecstasy she had not felt since he had kissed her good-bye before leaving for college. The same feeling that her first kiss--which had also been from Gary--had brought her.

When the kiss finally ended, she looked into his eyes. "I still feel the same way about you."

"I don't know how I could have ever left you--and what we have, now and then--for anything."

"At least you came back for it." Sora leaned her head onto his shoulder. "Suddenly it feels like you never left."

"I'm don't think I ever really did, in my heart." Gary smiled. "You know, I know this place over on Third Street. Nice almond cappuccino, live violinists..."

"Let's go."

And they did...her hand in his.

Gary tried to sneak up the stairs five hours later, but he couldn't get past Marissa.

"So, Gary, how's your girlfriend?"

"Umm...uhh...what girlfriend?"

"Oh come on, Gary, do you really think I know that little about you? If it hadn't gone well, you'd come straight to me to complain the moment it happened, and here it is, nine o'clock, and you tried to escape talking to me. I _know_ you."

Gary looked away from her and tried not to admit it.

"Gary, you're on cloud nine. I can sense it. Now you may as well 'fess up. It's not like this is bad news."

"All right! Sora and I are...are..."

"Going out?"

"Yes! Sora is my girlfriend. I am her boyfriend. Are you happy now?"

"Yes, I am. I was kind of expecting it, though..." she smiled.

"You know," Gary said, "I may be the one who gets tomorrow's paper, but somehow I _always_ have a feeling you know more than I do." He turned and went upstairs.

* * *

Gary fell onto the couch, flicking on the news. The Cat came and curled up in his lap, rather content for a change.

"Why am I doing this? I heard all this _yesterday_."

The Cat crawled over his arm and the arm of the couch and nosed at a framed photo of Gary and Sora taken about a year before.

Gary sighed, smiling. "No. I can't stop thinking about her." He ruffled the Cat's fur, causing the Cat to shake his head and meow. "Of course, that's a good thing." Again the Cat settled in his lap and actually began to purr.

Gary began stroking the Cat, something he didn't do often and usually distractedly. "You know, I think you know even more than Marissa."

The Cat simply closed his eyes and purred louder.


	3. Link to the Past

Gary wandered down the street, looking for a man in his mid-sixties. _A guy's gonna get run over by a bus. A bus. Now you would think more than anything else, you could see or hear a_ bus _coming at you. But nooo, I gotta get out here in the October cold, miss_ lunch _even, to save some old guy who's apparently totally blind and deaf!_

It ticked him off a little, because he had a lunch date with his girlfriend, Sora Marley. Now he would be about half-an-hour late, because a bus driver he'd saved earlier was now about to run over somebody.

_There are some days I really consider just ripping up this stupid paper and letting the chips fall where they may..._

Just then Gary spotted the guy and his anger melted into pure adrenaline as he ran to pull the guy back from the street.

He grabbed the man by the arms and jerked him toward the sidewalk. They both fell over, but fortunately landed out of the path of the barreling bus.

"Hey, buddy, you saved my life! Thanks a million!"

"You're sure welcome, pal, but I have somewhere I need to be..." Gary stood,helping the man to his feet. Under his breath he muttered, "...and God bless Lucius Snow for saddling me with this and not some idiot who doesn't care."

The man's cowboy hat nearly hid his eyes, but not so much that Gary didn't notice him blink. "Did you say Lucius Snow, young man? Did you know Lucius Snow?"

Gary frowned. "No, not exactly...did _you_?"

"Yes. I was one of his closest...no...surely you aren't...but how else, it only makesperfect sense...you're...you're..."

"I'm who, buddy?" Gary was getting impatient. It didn't dawn on him what the man was implying.

"I see you have a Chicago Sun-Times. May I see the date?" the man asked.

"No! I mean, uh, go get your own paper!"

The man staggered a bit and leaned against the fence behind them. "So you're the one Lucius chose. My, my. I've often wondered about you. You're the young G. H. Lucius chose. Youseem to be doin' a good job."

Gary listened carefully, and selected his words with caution. "Are we thinking of the same thing here? My initials are G. H., and I was chosen by Lucius Snow...but can you tell me what for?"

The man rolled his eyes. "You're the G. H. that gets the paper, aren't you?"

* * *

Sora looked at the clock again and then let her eyes return to the door. A mere twenty seconds passed before Gary finally entered, followed by an older man in John Wayne-ish garb.

"Gary! You're late...umm, who's you friend?"

"Well, Sora, this is...umm..."

"My name is Bernard Westerson. I know, it must seem a bit corny what with the way I dress, but I was bred and born out west, so it fits, and besides, there isn't much I can do about it, since I'd rather not take the time and expense to change it."

Sora smiled. "Come on, you two, sit down."

Gary placed a hand on her shoulder and bent down lower to Sora. "Sora, do you know who this is? No, of course not. _I_ didn't. He...he...this guy knew Lucius Snow!"

"What?" Sora gasped. "I think the three of us have to have a major Q&A session."

Gary and Bernard both slid into the booth, Gary next to Sora with Bernard across from them for easier questioning. And so Gary could be close to her. "Where would you like to start?" Bernard asked. "I know, what with all Snow left for you to find, you must think he's an absolute 'Tomorrow's Paper' expert. But I'll tell you this: he wasn't. You know as much as he did. And he also learned from the guy who came before him."

Gary leaned back in his chair, eyes gaping at this treasure trove he had been so angrywith for no reason. "So he didn't know where it came from?"

"Nope."

"But it did come with the Cat?" Gary asked.

"The little marmalade kitty?" Bernard laughed. "That cat was such a pain...scratched me every time I went to pick him up."

"He's still that way. No lap time unless _he_ puts himself there." Gary chuckled a bit. The Cat was stubborn to say the least. It surprised him a little to hear someone refer to him as a _kitty_ , and not _the Cat_.

"So he's still kickin'?" Bernard asked. "I guess I should have known."

The waitress came and took Gary and Sora's orders. Bernard said he'd already eaten.

Sora looked at Bernard, then Gary, and back again. "So most of the information you can give us is about Lucius Snow more so than the paper?"

"'Fraid so, Miss...I believe the young man here called you Sora."

"Yes, he did. I'm Sora Marley. And since he hasn't told you his name--I know him, and he didn't--he's Gary Hobson."

"Hobson! I knew Lucius said it was Hob- or Hodg- something. I was more under the impression of Hodgesen, but no matter. Come on, it's been quite a while since I've met any real friends of Lucius's. Ask away, I'll be glad to talk."

"So he told you about the paper?" Gary questioned.

"Well, yes. I came into Chicago fresh off the prairie and he was the only one who understood. I was his assistant at the Sun-Times for several years, but more often than not I was the one who would go out and do the savin' while he would typeset the story once it changed."

Sora frowned. "When _did_ you come to Chicago?"

"Well, I was about twenty-five. I've tried to forget."

"Why?" She pried gently, a bit concerned.

He sighed. "I was born out West. I bought a ranch at twenty and married at twenty-two. We had a daughter just a few days after our first anniversary. We were happy for a while, and then there was that storm. It was thunderin' and lightnin', and I was out a bit late herdin' the cattle. My pretty little wife got worried, and so she saddled up her horse and bundled up our three-year-old daughter in a heap of blankets, and she rode off to find me. She did--she found me. She came ridin' towards me, and she wasn't twenty feet from me when lightning struck. It hit them, killed her, and our daughter, even the horse. Gone. Instantly. No pause, not really even much time to scream. I stuck around long enough to give them a proper funeral and used my life savings to get out East here. Haven't left the city since. No reason, my wife was my only kin."

"How sad!" Sora cried. "You must be lonely."

"Well, I must admit that ever since Lucius died I've just been in a rut. I wander around the city all day, go in for an hour to do my job at six, and then I wander around until I get sleepy and then I go home."

Gary paused. "Where do you work?"

"I do dishes during rush hour at a small restaurant over halfway across town. For doing that I get three meals at the restaurant, a tiny room--not apartment, mind you, a room--over the place to call my own, and a hundred bucks a month. They're really generous to me. It's a family business and they make pretty big bucks."

Gary nodded. "So in other words, you don't have anything to do except for that one hour every day?"

Bernard nodded. "I need to find a fairly cheap hobby so I could have something to do, but I just never get around to it."

Gary smiled. "Well, any friend of Lucius Snow's is a friend of mine. What would you say to helping me out?"

Bernard's eyes lit up. "You mean that? I could be out there helping people again?"

"Sure. Now it wouldn't be all the stories, because this is my responsibility, but if there was something happening at a certain hour when I needed to be elsewhere, or if two things happened simultaneously, then you could help me out a great deal."

Sora punched his arm. "That's what me and Marissa are here for."

"I know, but you have other things you can do."

Sora nodded.

Bernard decided that it was time for him to ask a few questions. "So, how many people have you told? Telling is not a bad thing, if you do it for the right reasons."

"Well..." Gary thought about it. "When I first got it, I told Chuck, my best friend. He was practically there when it came. Then I told Marissa a few days later, after I used the race results to buy her a guide dog. You see, she's a very good friend and she's blind. Then Sora began to come back into my life, and so I told her. I needed as much moral support as I could get at the time, because I was going through a divorce. And then...let me see...my dad and mom had argued, and Dad came to see me, and he found out. About a year later I was in an accident and the paper went to Dad the next day and he came, and then when he landed in the pokey Mom got it the next day and so she found out. She was mad because he went almost a year without telling her. Then...Chuck got married so after a while he had to tell his wife, Jade...and then I think that's everyone."

"Don't forget _Erica_ ," Sora muttered tersely.

"I was trying to. Being with you for two seconds, Sora, is a hundred times more than spending a whole day with Erica. Don't be jealous of a ghost from the past, please. I never cared about her the way I do you."

Bernard nodded. "A girl."

Gary agreed. "Yes. I had missed twenty dates in thirty days, so I told her and thenwe went out...for the first time of about ten times."

Bernard smiled. "Six people. Seven with me. More than Lucius ever did."

"Who did he tell?" Sora asked.

"Well, me, of course, and he told each of his parents on their deathbeds. That was only a few months after he first got it. He tried to tell a girl he met on a trip to Rome..."

"I met her," Gary said, softly. "She was a widow when she met him, and had onedaughter. It took my telling her what I knew of Snow but she decided to move on. She had a boyfriend, last I heard. I still get a note in the mail from her now and then."

Bernard continued. "But, as I was saying, he decided not to put her through it all and left her alone in Rome. So it was only me and his parents."

Gary took it all in. "Are we going to see each other again, or is this a one-time deal?"

"We'll definitely be seeing more of each other. I would not miss out on being around younger folks for anything. Let me write down my number and the number and address of the restaurant for you so we can get in touch. You, too."

"Um, I own a restaurant, McGinty's...it's in the phone book, but I've got my own phone,here's that number."

Bernard rose from the table. "I am so glad I met you, Gary. It's fate. I was so lonely I was getting to the point where I might have walked out in front of that bus on purpose. Thank you so much."

"You...you're welcome."

Bernard grinned. "You remind me of Lucius...always hesitant to take a compliment. Now, I'll be on my way, I think you two had a date." He left the small restaurant.

Perfect timing came into play as Gary and Sora's food arrived just them.

Sora just shook her head. "Wow. That was weird. I feel like I saw Lucius Snow's ghost."

"Not Lucius Snow--but definitely a ghost."

"Yeah. A ghost with a chance to live again, thanks to you."

Gary shrugged. "He'll never do more than half the stories unless I need an entire day off."

Sora smiled. "Which you might need more of, now that you have a girlfriend."

He smiled back at her. "You've got that right."


	4. Visitors

Gary smiled and stretched. His day was over and he was happy. He and Sora had gone on a date, and she had just left.

He might have fallen asleep on the couch except for the fact that his phone rang. "Hello?"

"Gary! Gary-my-man, how are ya?"

"Chuck? Hey, how's it going?"

"No, no, I want to hear about you first. A little birdie told me something was going on in your life..."

"Well, actually, yeah. I met Lucius Snow's best friend..."

"No, no, no. I talked to Marissa and she told me all about him, but she also told me that you have got yourself a girl..."

"Oh." Gary paused. "Yeah, I do..."

"Do I know her?"

"Quite well, actually...Sora."

There was a moment of silence. "You? And _Sora_? It's about time! Good going, Gar!"

"Thank you. I'm sure she'll be glad you approve. Anyway, how are you and Jade?"

"I'm okay, and Jade is more wonderful than ever...hey, buddy, what's the going rate at the Hilton?"

"How would I know? Why? You don't...Chuck, are you coming to Chicago?" Gary demanded.

"I'll be bringing Jade and arriving Saturday."

"That's two days from now! Well, all right, Chuck...I'll clean up the apartment and fix up the hide-a-bed for you..."

"Have you forgotten that I'm married now? I think we'll need a _bit_ more privacy than your place can give us..."

"Oh. Um. Yeah." Gary paused. "But the nearest hotel is a ten-minute drive. You don't want to spend all that on taxis..."

"Have you forgotten, also, about car rentals?"

"No, I remember, but you won't be real close that way...hey, Sora has an extra bedroom and she's just down the street, five-minute walk, she'll put you up..."

"Can she cook?"

"Well...she's no chef, but she can keep you fed..."

"Great. Call her and I'll call you back in ten minutes."

Gary called her and got the green light and then it was only a few moments before Chuck called back.

"She said that'd be fine, Chuck."

"Great! We'll rent a car and be at McGinty's around two on Saturday."

"How long can you stay?"

"Indefinitely. It won't be more than two weeks...you know how it goes, I'm in showbiz now."

Gary laughed. "See ya there," he said and hung up on Chuck for old time's sake.

* * *

Sora came to McGinty's on Saturday and ordered her usual Dr. Pepper and sat with Gary in one of the booths while waiting for Chuck and Jade. Chuck she knew, but Jade she had not had the chance to meet.

"So, what's she like, Gary?"

"Well, Jade...she's...I know her about as well as you do, Sora. We've only met twice, and once she was disguised as a total ditz. I do know she's smart, though. She's an ex-international jewel thief."

"Whoa. Big biz, eh?"

"She made a small fortune."

Sora shook her head. "And she gave it up for Chuck?"

Gary simply nodded.

"And he _wanted_ to marry a known felon?"

"Well, it sure wasn't a forced marriage. They're happy now. When he calls he talks about nothing but her."

Sora sipped her Dr. Pepper wonderingly. "Wow." Of course this was making thoughts of settling down run through her head. If a marriage made after only having known each other a few weeks could work, why not her and Gary? Of course she did not voice this opinion, she didn't want to push him. "When are they getting here?"

"Two o'clock. Another ten minutes, give or take."

"It'll be so nice to see Chuck. It's been a while."

"I said we have about ten minutes..."

"Huh? Ohh..." Sora breathed as Gary kissed her. "Chuck isn't even here and he's already rubbing off on you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He has quite the mischievous nature, does he not?"

Gary laughed a little, and just as they were about to kiss again their guests arrived.

Chuck was already happy to be home. "Gary! Sora! Hey, are we interrupting something?"

Gary got up. "Well, actually yes, but it's nothing that can't wait at least a few minutes..." he slapped Chuck on the back. "And how are you, Jade?" he asked.

"I'm fine...I don't care for flying, though," she said, patting her stomach. Sora was surprised to catch a slight accent in Jade's voice, Austrailian was her first guess.

"It's kind of weird..." Chuck said, "It never bothered her before." Jade elbowed him lightly. "And Jade, this is Gary's girlfriend, Sora," Chuck introduced her. "They're high school sweethearts gotten back together."

"Pleased to meet you, Sora."

"You too, Jade. I'd like to say I've heard a lot about you, but I haven't."

"It's just as well...even if Gary _could_ say a lot about me, with my past, you don't want to know."

Sora laughed. "It can't be that bad...what say we all sit and chat?"

They agreed to this and returned to the booth that Gary and Sora had been occupying.

"Can I get you anything, guys?" Gary said.

"Nah, I ate on the plane, and I think Jade here would prefer to let her stomach settle..." Chuck said, a bit concerned.

Jade nodded ruefully, so Gary sat. "Marissa said she's sorry she couldn't be here, but she had a business engagement."

"Oh well...from what I hear, we'll be dining at her house tonight."

"Yeah. She wanted to make up for not being here," Sora told them. "So you're spared eating my food for one night longer."

Gary smiled. "It's not that bad, I assure you. I've eaten it."

"I'm not picky," Jade said. "I'll eat nearly anything to keep from being hungry."

They chatted a few more minutes. Then Chuck and Jade took their bags to Sora's house and settled in.

* * *

Time went by in a whirlwind, at least for Gary, who had handed off more to Bernard--Lucius Snow's friend--than he would've liked. Chuck and Jade got to meet Bernard, and Jade got to see the sights in Chicago--which she hadn't had a chance to do when she'd come before.

Before Gary knew it, it was Saturday again.

He went about his usual stuff, changing the paper, preventing catastrophes. At around two o'clock he came to the last thing that needed changing.

"Guy gets hit by semi. 1:42 p.m. Pronounced dead on the scene."

Gary had plenty of time to get there, so he hopped a cab over to the place.

Saving the guy was easy. He got out of the cab a few blocks up and approached the man. "Excuse me, sir...I, I seem to have forgotten my wallet, can you spare a quarter for a phone call?"

"Sure, buddy," the man said and gave him the change as the semi barreled by.

The man walked off and so did Gary.

* * *

Gary walked into his apartment and dropped the paper onto the kitchen table as he perched himself on the barstool.

The Cat leapt up onto the table and promptly sat on the paper.

Gary sighed. When the Cat called the paper to his attention it usually meant he'd missed something or something had changed without his knowing. "I can't read _through_ you, Cat."

The Cat meowed and jumped back down on off the table, returning to his kitty kibble.

The headline had drastically changed.

"LOS ANGELES TOURIST KILLED IN BOTCHED ROBBERY", and in smaller letters beneath it, "Newly liberated felon charged with murder"

Gary scanned the article. The robber was the same guy he'd just rescued, obviously, or it wouldn't have changed.

But the victim was Jade!

* * *

Chuck muted his ball game and answered the phone. "Hello. Sora's not here but I can take a message."

"Chuck! It doesn't matter, I wanted to talk to you anyway. Listen, where are Sora and Jade? They're together, aren't they?"

"Yeah. Sora took Jade shopping because she claims she knows where all the best buys are."

"How long ago did they leave? Can you catch them?"

"No, buddy, they've been gone 'bout two hours and they took a cab."

"Oh, it figures! Listen, Chuck, you gotta help me, or Jade's gonna be in big trouble."

Chuck paused. "Why? What's gonna happen? _Tell me_ what's gonna happen to _my wife_!!!"

"Front page says there's gonna be a robbery, and it's going to get messed up and the guy's gonna take hostages, it just so happens that they'll be Sora and Jade. Jade's gonna try to escape and he's gonna shoot her."

"Well if it's the main headline why didn't you stop it earlier?!!?"

"Chuck, _it changed_. I accidentally rescued the guy who's gonna do it. I didn't know..."

"Look. Where is it?"

Gary gave him the location and Chuck said he'd get a cab and have him stop and get him on their way to the site, and then he hung up on Gary before he had a chance to protest.

* * *

In the cab Chuck seemed very tense, very agitated.

"Gar. Gar. What are we gonna do? Gar?"

"Calm down, Chuck. We'll save them. We'll just alert security that there's a man with a gun. He _does_ have a gun. Paper says so."

"But what if it doesn't work?"

"It _will_ , Chuck. Don't worry."

"Don't worry? Don't worry?!? This is my _wife_ you're referring to, Gary!" Chuck slumped in his seat. "But she ought to be able to handle it. You know what she did for a living, Gar. This is in her league."

Gary simply nodded.

"Of course..."

"'Of course' what, Chuck?"

"Well, I'm supposed to keep it secret, Jade asked me to, but..."

"But what???"

"Gar, before we left she'd been having some stomach flu or something. Very queasy--nasty-- _anyway_ , the day before we left we went to a doctor to see if there was anything he could give her, you know, a pill or a prescription-strength antacid or _something_ , and he ran a few tests, and..."

Gary nodded. "And...?"

"And...I'm...going...to be...a... _father_. There. I said it. She didn't want me to tell anyone until she could get home and call her relatives, you know..."

"You mean she's pregnant?"

"Three months along already." Chuck closed his eyes and nodded. "I am... _so_...incredibly...I don't know, Gar. I'm not sure I'm ready for it. We hadn't planned to have kids anytime soon, you know, it was a 'maybe-someday' priority, and now, here, we're having one, and...and...whew."

Gary tried to think of something encouraging. "Do you _want_ this baby? I don't mean someday or later on, but do you want _this_ baby?"

Chuck looked at him. "Yeah. I do. I really do. But I don't know squat about kids, Gar..."

"Well, Chuck, you don't have to know about kids. You have to know about _this_ kid, and you'll have from the moment it enters this world to start learning about it. You're its dad, so it's going to be something like you, right?"

"Yeah...hey, if it turns out like me it couldn't be _all_ bad...you have something there, Gar. But, you know, Jade...it's as much of a surprise to her as it is to me. She just thought she was having a few...off-months, you know?"

"Yeah. Does _she_ want it?"

"She's still in shock over it. She's barely talking. That's not her, Gar. Usually I listen to her for hours."

"Then you need to talk to her, Chuck. Find out how she feels."

Chuck nodded. "But right now, Priority One is to make sure she gets the chance to ever discuss anything."

The cab stopped. "This is the place."

"Thanks, pal," Gary said, handing him the fare.

* * *

They told security about the man with the gun and then Gary checked the paper.

"Oh great. Now there's a security team member in critical condition. I guess the best thing to do right now is find Sora and Jade and get them out of his way."

"Yeah. Great plan," Chuck said sarcastically.

"Look, it's all I can come up with, unless you want one of us to find the guy and the other to find the girls."

"Brilliant! We'll both look for both of them, and whoever finds the girls first starts searching for the other. When we've explained to them what's going on, and we get them to a safe place, then we find the guy and try to stop him."

Gary nodded. "Good plan."

The immediately split up and began searching. It was several moments before Chuck found the girls. "Jade! Sora!" he called from behind them.

"Chuck, honey...what are you doing here?" Jade asked.

"Nobody move! I have a gun!"

Sora screamed, although she wasn't the only one. Gary was across the building but he could hear the commotion and tried frantically to find his friends.

The thief, with a bandanna covering the lower half of his face, walked to the closest cash register. "Give me all you got!" he told the salesclerk. The girl was shaking as she opened the cash register and began to empty it. Suddenly, from across the room, an alarm sounded. The girl cried, "That calls the police! Someone must have activated it!"

Gary had, he'd remembered reading about the "unnoticed" alarm in the paper.

The thief turned to the crowd and, waving his gun in the air, shouted, "You'll pay for this!!!"

Chuck saw him lower his gun to shooting level. "Get down!" he yelled, jumping to push Jade to the floor.

Four shots rang out, and Chuck's scream. "He got me!" He had taken a bullet in his upper shoulder. His once-white sweater began to turn red.

"Chuck!!!" Gary cried. He paused to check the headline.

"DARING RESCUE WITH HAPPY ENDINGLos Angeles man takes bullet for wife"

Gary kept his mouth shut. He knew if he yelled he could make the thief angry and make things worse. As it was things came out okay. Scanning the article, he discovered that Jade retained no injuries and Chuck would be out of the hospital within the day, and there were no other injuries. In fact, the police would be arriving...

"Hey! The police are here!" someone cried out. They had not used sirens, so as not to tip off the guy. The thief used the last two bullets of his gun to shatter two windows, but none of the cops were hit.

In minutes, the place was swarming with law enforcement and the thief surrendered peacefully.

* * *

Gary and Sora sat in the waiting room of the hospital.

"I'm just so glad you're all right, Sora. I...I don't know what I'd do if...if you'd been hurt."

"Was I going to be?"

"The paper didn't say so, but there have been misprints before."

"What's the paper say about Chuck and Jade?"

"They're fine. Chuck'll be in a sling for a while, but he'll be fine. Jade too."

Sora sighed in relief. She'd played the limited seating in the waiting room to her advantage by sitting on Gary's lap--although there was a perfectly good spot next to him-- _now_. He didn't mind--it'd been his idea when the room had been packed moments earlier. He embraced her, cradling her and drinking in the pleasure of just _being_ , with her in his arms in a place where everyone was too worried about their own problems to notice them, and not saying anything, but simply mulling over the events of the day.

"I am so glad you get the paper, Gary," she whispered.

"Why's that?" he whispered back.

"If you didn't, I could be dead now."

"If I didn't Jade might never have gone good, Chuck would have never met her, and none of this would have happened."

"It doesn't matter. Just...thank you for being there when you were. And for being here now."

"And for eternity." He smiled. They were nose-to-nose as it was, so he tilted his head up a little and kissed her breathless.

It was, of course, at that moment that Chuck came in, his left arm in a navy-blue sling proclaiming "Chicago doctors care about your health!"

"I'm interrupting again, aren't I?" he asked.

Gary broke off the kiss reluctantly and looked up at his best friend. "I'd ask how you're doing, but I already read the article. Twice. You're big news. Front-page hero."

"Really? Let me see!" Chuck sat in the spot next to Gary, and Gary handed him the paper.

Chuck pored over the article, oblivious to his two friends trying to recapture the moment. It seemed that for once Gary didn't care if Chuck got a few sports scores.

Several minutes passed, but Jade finally did enter the waiting room. Chuck flung the paper towards Gary and immediately went up to her and kissed her ardently. "I love you, Jade, and I want this baby, more than anything else that I've ever wanted."

Sora and Gary watched intently as she melted into his arms. "Oh, Chuck! I was so worried that you didn't...with all the shock of it and everything...I...I..." She began to cry. "I love you so much, Chuck..."

He simply held her, and swayed as her tears slowed, and finally stopped. "Is the baby all right?" he whispered into her hair. "Please tell me it's all right."

"I'm sorry, Chuck, I didn't even think to tell you...they did an ultrasound...the baby is fine. Our child is going to be okay. Our child is going to be fine!"

They kissed again. "I can't tell you how happy I am!" Chuck told her.

Sora looked at Gary. "Me either."

"You either what?" he asked.

"I can't tell you how happy I am...to be with you."


	5. Secret

Sora smiled to herself. She couldn't smile outwardly at the moment, because her mouth was intertwined with Gary's, but she was so elated that she couldn't just sit there.

The kiss broke momentarily, after all, kissing and forgetting to breathe kind of defeated the purpose, but they stayed close to each other. She smiled outwardly in that moment, wrapped in his arms, gasping for breath.

They were nose-to-nose. Gary ran a finger along her cheek, and then tucked a stray wisp of her hair behind her ear. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back ever so slightly. They slowly started to kiss again. Sora could feel his breath on her lips, his very _nearness_ was overwhelming...

And then, the phone rang.

Sora slowly let herself fall out of his arms and backwards onto the remaining two seats of her couch. She reached her hand over her head and picked up the receiver. "Hello?" she asked tersely.

"Cheerio! Sora, Luv, how are you?" It was her dad's unmistakable English accent.

"Oh! Uh, fine, _Dad_ ," she stressed, for Gary.

Gary tried to get up and leave, but she slammed her shin into his knee and he sat back down.

"Sora, am I interrupting anything? Is this a bad time? I can call back--"

"It's too late, Dad...the moment is over."

"Whatever do you mean? No matter. Tell me all that's going on in your life."

"Not much, Dad...Chuck and his wife were up visiting last week, and they're pregnant..."

"Oh really? Chuck, a father? Good Lord, what is this world coming to? I'm so happy for them. Go on. I haven't heard from you in _ages_."

"It hasn't been that long, Dad...but, um, well, guess what?"

"You _didn't_."

"Didn't what?"

"Buy orange tennis shoes and wear them with anything green."

Sora rolled her eyes. Her father had the weirdest sense of humor she'd ever known. "Uhh... _no_ , Dad, I'm talking big."

"I give up. Tell me."

"Well, you see, Dad...Gary and I...are...back together." There was a pause. "Dad? You still there?"

"Yes, of course I am. I must say it's about time you quit moping about and went after the one you wanted."

" _Dad_! For your information I moped more than ever for nine days before he finally asked me back out." Sora rolled her eyes at Gary, shaking her head. "At least he's not mad," she mouthed.

"He didn't know?" Gary mouthed back.

She shook her head.

"Sora, why don't you call and tell me these things? You didn't get a phone _just_ to order pizza, you know."

Sora laughed. "I know. Um, Dad, he's... _here_...right now...can I call you tonight?"

"All right, if you must, Sora. Whatever you do, be sure that keeping in contact with your dad is at the _bottom_ of your to-do list."

"DAD!!!" Sora cried, flustered. She was about to ask him how he could suggest that she did not care about him, but he hung up. She reached back over her head and fumbled with the phone for a minute, finally getting the receiver back into place. "My dad...is so..."

"Nevermind," Gary told her, taking her hand and pulling her back up to her previous sitting position.

"I really do love him, Gar, but you know how he is."

"Reminds me of my own parents."

They looked one another in the eye and said the word in unison.

"Overprotective."

Sora sighed and slumped herself backward into the couch--which, incidentally, meant Gary's arm was over her shoulders.

The same half-smile returned to his face and the light to his eyes. "Shall we pick up where we left off?"

"Hang on just _one_ more minute." Sora sat up and took the phone off the hook. "Okay. Now."

* * *

The next day Sora came home from work, very tired. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID little kid. Had to scare the most flighty horse in the entire stables and _guess who_ had to get the blame because she was the closest one? I didn't even see the dumb kid, and yet _I_ had to help the maintenance man fix the stupid board that the horse kicked loose." She reached her apartment and removed her muddy--she preferred to think of it as mud, anyway--boots and entered her living room, setting them beside the door and moving over to sit on the couch.

"Hello, Luv!"

She jerked her head up. "Dad! What are _you_ doing here? I just about had a heart attack!"

"Oh, Sora, don't overdramatize," Jamie Marley answered his daughter from her couch. "I came in about an hour ago, and the flight was great, thank you for asking."

"Oh, Dad, of course I'm glad to see you," she said, hugging him, "But I wish you would've called or something."

"Oh, Sora, live a little!" he said as she flopped next to him.

"Pardon me? I do believe I am the one with a significant other..."

"Oh, yes. That's why I'm here. I want to meet him."

"Dad, you met Gary while I was in high school. You don't need to meet him now."

"People change. Undoubtedly he's grown up. He certainly couldn't have gotten any younger. And wasn't he married for a while? What if he leaves you, too?"

"Marcia left him, Dad..."

"See? What if he still loves her?"

Sora let out a deep breath that fluttered her bangs. "Dad, please. I know him better than anyone else. I know him better than Marcia ever did. Really. He only thought he loved Marcia because she set her sights on him. She's ruthless. She'll do whatever is necessary to get _exactly_ what she wants. And, besides, it's not like Gary and I are engaged or anything. We haven't even discussed it. It's only been a few weeks, Dad..."

"I was engaged to your mother--married to her, even--in less than one week."

"Dad, I do believe it was the _seventies_ , and, besides, you were in Europe. Europe is all about romance."

"True. But see how well we turned out."

Sora sighed. "Dad, you're dead-bent, bound, and determined to meet him just to irritate me, aren't you?"

Her father just grinned over at her with a completely innocent expression.

* * *

That night after her dad went to bed--Jamie Marley had always been an early-to-bed, late-to-rise kind of person--Sora called Gary.

"Gary?"

"Sora! Hello...what's up? You usually don't call this late..."

"Gary, Gary, help! Me...I...my _dad_ is here."

"So? What do you need me for?"

"He wants to _meet_ you."

Gary snickered a little. "Sora, he met me back in high school, remember? He doesn't need to meet me now."

"Not according to him." She sighed quite audibly. "Please? Can we have dinner? Tomorrow night?"

"But the paper..."

"Bernard. Remember Bernard?"

"Well, okay, I'll call him and see what I can do. Umm, can we eat here at McGinty's?"

"Perfect! Gar, you're a genius. Seeing that you have a successful business will really help my dad's opinion of you. Six work for you? Seven's too late, Dad goes to bed early...he's already asleep..."

"Sure."

"Thank you, Gary. Thank you thank you thank you!"

"Uhh...you're welcome...I think."

* * *

Sora called in sick the next day to spend time with her dad. Of course, it was all spent on the same subject.

"I just want to be sure he's still a nice guy, Sora."

"I know, Dad."

"So you're not angry with me?"

Sora sighed, blowing her bangs up again. "Nope."

"You're being short-tempered," her father accused.

"I'm Irish," she reminded him.

"You're _half_ -Irish," he corrected.

"Would you rather me have been English?"

"No, because then I would have had to marry someone other than your mother. I couldn't help her roots."

"I want to be married, Dad, but Gary's a little scared. His first try turned sour, so he needs time to realize that I would never do what she did."

"You loved him far before that other woman ever met him and you still do. Isn't that enough?"

"You don't know Gary, Dad. He _can_ be a little slow when it comes to emotions."

"Obviously."

A pause. Even though the words were calm, and mostly in jest, both kept cool demeanors and pretended to be perfectly serious.

"You know, Luv, you're just like your mother."

"In what way?"

"In so many ways. You look like her, you act like her...sometimes when you're off-guard you even sound like her. She didn't have a full Irish lilt, you know. She only spent her first ten years in Ireland. Then she moved to New Jersey and tried to train herself out of it. She might have succeeded had it not been for talking to her grandparents. She still had it, and when her guard was down, she used it, which was a good thing. She saw me, her guard went down, and that half-lilt was what made her so attractive to me. That's how you picked it up...whenever she was with you, her guard fell through the floor, so you have a quarter lilt."

Sora finally smiled, and tried not to laugh. Her father could be so ridiculous at times, but she loved to hear talk of her mother, who had died when she was seven. "I got my name from her, too."

"Yep. Tried to convince her to name you something plain and sensible, like Jane or Mary, but she said she wanted her daughter to have a name that echoed Irish. I asked her like what and she spouted the first thing that popped into her head. Sora Christianna Marley. It does echo Irish."

"So you pretty much drew my name out of a hat."

"Easter bonnet, to be precise. That's why it's so frilly."

Now Sora rolled her eyes. "Did Mum and Uncle Eamon get along really well?"

"Well... _really_ well would be stretching it a bit... _okay_ sounds a little overdone... _constantly at each other's throats for no apparent reason_ comes to mind..."

"Really?"

"They were siblings, Luv. And Irish atop that."

Sora nodded. "I was just thinking, you know, me and Steve get along so well."

"Steve? Oh yes, Eamon and Julia's little tot. How is he these days?"

"The little tot you mention will be graduating high school come the end of the school year. Just turned 19 a few weeks ago, December 13th. Says he's gonna get a job and live near me." She rolled her eyes. "I think he looks up to me."

He smiled. "I'd rather that than have you be pointed at as a bad example."

Sora grinned. "I guess so." She turned to the clock. "Oh, man, Dad, we have to get ready and go!"

* * *

Sora led her father through the two sets of doors that opened into McGinty's.

"Nice name. Looks like a decent place...how did you ever find it?"

"Gary _owns_ this place, Dad. He took over it when the previous owner retired."

Jamie nodded, eyes a bit wider than usual.

Sora spotted Gary, who waved them over to his booth.

"Hello, Gar," Sora said, sliding in next to him, very close. Her father took his place across from them.

"Hello, Gary. It's been a while."

"Yes...yes it has, Mr. Marley."

"Forget that. You were only eighteen or nineteen when I required you to call me that, but now you're old enough to call me Jamie."

"All right, then...Jamie," Gary faltered. It was strange to him.

Sora elbowed Gary to get his attention and smiled a this-is-going-better-than-I-thought-it- _could_ smile.

The conversation was smooth and easy, and Sora thought it went very well.

Until she and her father got home.

"So...Dad...what did you think?" she dared to ask.

"He's secretive. He's hiding something."

"Nuh-uh!" Sora cried, but even as she said it, images of the paper floated across her mind. _But Dad_ can't _find out about that!!!_ her thoughts screamed at her.

"Oh, maybe not from you, but from me. What do you know that I don't?"

"Nothing!"

"The way you say that makes me know better. Now, I'm going to go to bed, and I'll leave you alone to think over it, but I'll tell you this, I won't leave until I find out one way or another, because I will not let him hurt you."

"Daaa-aaad!!!"

"That's final." He entered Sora's extra room. "And if I'm here a day over one week, I'll be repainting this room--orange! And I must verify whatever you tell me!"

Sora fell to the couch. "I'm doomed." She raised her voice so he could hear her. "DAD I'M A GROWN WOMAN AND I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF AND HE'S THE PERFECT GUY AND HE'S NOT HIDING ANYTHING!"

"WHATEVER!"

Immediately she called Gary.

"What's up, Sora?"

"Gary, he...he _suspects_."

"Suspects what?" Gary was sure he already knew.

"That you have a secret. He thinks you're hiding something and he has just sworn not to leave until he knows what it is because he wants to be sure you won't hurt me, and if he stays long enough he's threatened to paint my extra room orange and..." She broke into tears.

"Well, we can't just tell him about the paper--say, isn't he being just a _bit_ overprotective?"

"Yeah. He's been like that since Mom died."

"Mmm. So what do you suggest?"

"We _have_ to tell him."

"Can he keep it a secret?"

"I got my secret-keeping skills from him, and _I_ know."

"Well...fine. If you must tell him there's no way out." He did not want to deal with what might happen if Jamie actually did paint the room orange.

"Umm...he said he'd have to verify whatever I told him." Sora could hear him sigh very, VERY loudly.

" _Fine_. Come over tomorrow morning--I'll call you when--and he can help me with _one_ story. _One_."

"Thank you, Gary! You're the greatest!"

"See you then, Sora."

"Bye!"

* * *

Sora got her dad up and eating breakfast.

"So?" he asked, hinting.

"So I called Gary last night and we agreed to tell you and prove it to you."

Jamie smiled. "Tell away."

"You won't believe it until you see it."

"We'll see."

Sora motioned to her copy of the 'Sun-Times'. "I went downstairs this morning and bought that. Read me the date."

"Ehh, January 27."

"Right. Now Gary gets one dropped right outside his door, even though it's upstairs. When he comes out to get it, there is a Cat sitting on it, and today his reads January 28."

"Huh?"

"He gets tomorrow's paper... _today_. He finds all the bad news and goes out and changes it. Then when he goes back to read the article, it's changed or been replaced entirely."

Jamie put his spoon down into his cereal bowl. He looked up at Sora. He cocked his head to one side. "You're dead serious, aren't you?"

Sora nodded confidently.

"And you can prove this?" he asked, somewhat dubiously.

"Gary's going to call and you're going to help him."

Jamie leaned back so that his chair was standing only on two legs.

"Good gracious, what _have_ I gotten myself into? How long have you known?"

"A month after it first started coming, which was the day Marcia served him divorce papers."

"Oh." He nodded. "And you think _I'm_ crazy."

The phone rang. "That'll be him." She answered. "Gary?"

She conversed a moment and then hung up. "Go over to McGinty's now. He'll meet you outside."

* * *

Jamie met Gary out front. "Cheerio, young man!"

"Hello, Jamie. Sora told you. Here. You can look at it."

Jamie took the paper offered him. He checked the date and flipped through it, realizing the headlines were different from Sora's copy. "Seems to be in order. Crazy, but in order with what she said."

"Come on. Did you read about the kid on 21st Street?"

"The one that supposedly falls off the roof of that motel?"

"Yeah, come on, we have to go save him."

"Okay..." Jamie said, hurrying to keep up with Gary.

* * *

Even though they took the elevated railway, the "el," it took them a good twenty minutes to get there and another fifteen to get to their exact destination.

They emerged on the roof and Jamie looked over the article again. Then he looked up and watched Gary speak to the kid. Then he looked back and the article had disappeared, replaced with a Humane Society promotional article.

* * *

"That was so amazing!" Jamie cried for the umpteenth time as he and Gary entered Sora's apartment.

Gary bid Sora hello. "It really wasn't. No action, no need for quick thinking. Very easy, very...dull."

"Maybe for you, young man, but seeing that paper just _change_ like that, while _I_ was holding it, so you couldn't have done it...it just gives me gooseflesh!"

Gary turned to Sora for translation.

"Goosebumps." She laughed at his arched eyebrow. "My reluctant hero."

He nodded. "So do you believe us now, Jamie?"

"Yes. I understand now. I just have one concern."

For a moment Sora wanted to rip her hair out, _Here comes another week of Dad,_ but was relieved even as he spoke.

"What if it was to happen that you would get hurt or killed on one of these rescues?"

"I'd be in the article."

"Oh. So you'll never get accidentally taken from my precious Sora by sudden catastrophe?"

"Nope."

"Okay. Sora, direct me to the nearest laundromat so I can wash my stuff and pack to go home." Sora told him where the apartment laundromat was located in the building.

Gary sat on the couch and she sat next to him.

"Whew!" she summed it up. "Well, now _that's_ over."

"I am _so_ glad. I don't know what else we might have had to do to make him happy."

She nodded. "Well, now it's my turn. Make me happy."

"Too easy," he said.

Their lips met for the first time since her father had arrived. The kiss was long, sweet, and ardent.

When it ended, she laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm almost sorry to see him go."

He smiled. He liked having his arms around her, running fingers through her hair.

She continued her remark. "Until I think of my lovely cherry spare room turning orange!"


	6. Sports Fanatic

Thud. "Meow."

"Good morning Chicago, the temps are in the twenties, courtesy KZRB Chicago. Hey, it was the best we could afford!"

Slap. Gary was in his usual exuberantly cheerful morning mood. "What's wrong with cold? Sora likes cold. Do I _have_ to get up?"

"Meow!"

"Oh, all right!" Gary hauled himself out of bed and, wrapped in his comforter, opened his door. The Cat ran in and Gary picked up the paper.

"Hmm. Accidental bow-and-arrow shot to the hip in the park about ten, mugging on South Side at noon, purse-snatching gone foul at 23rd Street in two hours. No biggie."

"Meow!"

"Okay, okay." Gary poured a bowl of milk for the Cat and then went to get ready for the day.

Thirty minutes later he passed Marissa on his way out, taking a bagel off her plate. "Purse-snatching!" he called back to her.

"But, Gary, wait! Uh, bye!" she said confusedly. "That guy never slows down."

The Cat jumped up on the desk in front of her and meowed in agreement.

* * *

It was noon when Gary walked out of an alley after rescuing the mugging victim. He'd gotten a black eye in the process and not much of a thanks--"I had a switchblade. I could have taken care of myself, buddy! I swear, all you guys think that just because we're women..."

He reached for his back pocket to make sure there was nothing else in the paper for the day.

The paper wasn't there. He felt his pocket. It was ripped, and the paper had obviously fallen out. No problem, he'd just go back in the alley and get it.

He searched wildly for a good ten minutes before it dawned on him that he'd lost it. "Aww _man_!!! Now what?"

He walked to the nearest pay phone and called Marissa.

"You lost it? Gary, how could you lose it?"

"My pocket ripped. I was in a little tussle with a would-be mugger..." he tried to explain.

"Fine, fine. Umm, what usually happens when you lose it?"

Gary thought for a moment. "Well, if I throw it out every paper I look at is tomorrow's, but when I lose it, the Cat usually shows up with it for the second time that day."

"Well, then, sit somewhere and wait for the Cat."

"Is that the best you can think of?"

"On a day as busy as today, yes! Call me if anything happens," she ordered.

"Yeah, I'll do that. By the way, what do you suggest for a black eye?"

"Oh, Gary, you didn't..."

"I did."

"Well, get some ice from a hot-dog vendor in a plastic bag, okay?"

"Yeah. Sure. I'll be okay."

"Good. Okay. Bye!" Marissa hung up.

* * *

Gary went to a nearby playground--plastic bag of ice firmly in place--and sat on a bench, watching the kids to kill time.

 _So cute_ , he thought. _Wouldn't mind one or two of my own eventually..._

But his thoughts, however sentimental, were cut short by a familiar, piercing meow.

The Cat curled up next to his side and there sat the paper. He shoved the Cat off and immediately checked it. It was all there, except page nine/ten (which were back-to-back). Gary looked on the front and read the mini-contents.

"Nine and ten...sports. Why am I missing my sports page?" He immediately left to discuss it with Marissa over coffee, leaving the poor Cat to several three-to-seven-year-olds that liked to pet backwards.

* * *

"I wouldn't worry over it, Gary. It's probably just a fluke. Maybe it wasn't even there this morning."

"Is that your sage advice for the day?" Gary asked sarcastically.

"Yes," Marissa answered with an equally cynical tone. "It's been especially busy today, Gary. There was some guy in here making thousands off of bets and treating the entire place."

"What kind of bets?"

"Sports, I don't know. I was too busy to notice, or even care. Why? Oh, Gary, you don't think...?"

"Yes, I do. I'll bet you...I mean, he probably picked it up and threw away the rest of the paper once he figured out it wasn't a printer's error. Well, let one man have a lucky day. Tomorrow he'll be a few grand richer and no harm done, right? Maybe he'd hit some hard times."

"Right."

* * *

"Highs in the upper twenties, and snow! Snow, snow, snow for Chicago. In fact, it has already begun to flurry a bit out..." slap.

"Sora'll like that..." he yawned.

"Meow!"

He answered the door to greet the Cat, who was, as usual, disgustingly alert for that hour. He poured the milk before scanning the paper.

"Page eight...page eleven?!!?"

He dashed downstairs to Marissa.

"Whoa. You're down early."

"If you could see, you'd know I haven't even showered yet. It's missing again!"

" _What's_ missing?"

"Page nine and ten. The back-to-back. The sports page!"

"Oh no. Where do you suppose it is?"

"Well, I guess--how should I know? If I knew would I be here asking you?"

"Calm down, Gary. I'm sure it'll turn up."

"Calm down?!!? Gary cried, but was suddenly drowned out by a cheer from the next room. "Huh?" He left the office and saw a crowd clustered around the television, watching the sports. "Hey, Marissa, come here!"

Marissa came. "What is it?"

"Is that the same guy from yesterday?"

"I don't know, but he did invite everyone else to return as early as possible this morning for a betting rematch...I'd have to hear his voice...just a minute." She went behind the counter and asked the man centered in between the mob if he'd care for anything to drink, which he refused. She went back to Gary. "It's him, all right."

"Marissa, he's clutching a piece of newspaper. A page, there's just one page, covered with scotch tape."

"Well, go spy on him!"

"All right! All right!" Gary went behind the counter and pretended to be doing important stuff, but was actually rearranging dishes and such.

The man was talking a bit loudly to a close friend. "Yeah, Charlie, I found it in an alley over on South Side yesterday, and I ditched it all but the one page--the sports page. Then at six this morning, there was this one new page with this orange kitty sittin' on it. Stupid cat clawed at me and tried to take this page, but I wouldn't let him. At about a quarter after he just up and left."

"That is so weird, Hank. Are you sure it's real?"

"I've made twenty grand off it already! It's accurate if not real!"

"Wow, Hank. Are you sure this is right?"

"Charlie, for Pete's sake, I only got the one page today. What else am I supposed to do with it?"

"Well, okay, if you say so, Hank."

Gary went back to Marissa. "It came to him with the Cat at six, Marissa. The Cat tried to keep him from taking it, but he gave up at 6:15, which probably means that's when he left to come here. What do I do? This just isn't right!"

"I don't know, Gary. You're on your own. I'm out of ideas."

Gary watched her go into the kitchen, and then focused on this guy, Hank, and his buddy, and all the people losing their money.

That sparked an idea.

Gary went back behind the bar and got the guy's attention. "Hey, buddy, you seem to be having a pretty lucky day."

"Yeah! I've made 20 grand today, and 10 grand yesterday."

Gary frowned. "Could I have a moment with you, then, please? In the office?"

"Sure..." Hank scowled. He followed Gary to the office and Gary sat him down.

"Were you aware that McGinty's has a winning limit?"

"A what?"

"A winning limit. This is a sports bar as well as a restaurant, and we understand if people want to make a few bets. But if the customers lose a lot of money, they won't spend what's left. Bad for business. So a few weeks ago we instituted a winning limit. The sign hasn't arrived yet, you see. But, anyway, you're only allowed to win one thousand dollars, and then you're through."

"Oh. I see. Since I was not aware of the policy, can I keep what I've got?" the man asked, obviously not willing to give it up.

"Well, if you don't make any bets here for a week, I think that will be okay."

"Thanks, buddy."

Gary winced. "I'm not your buddy. Now, before you leave, give me the page."

"The...page?"

"The sports page from tomorrow's paper. The orange kitty is _my_ Cat and I get the rest of the paper _every day_. I have to go out there and live through several heart attacks _every day_ while I'm saving people. _Every day_ I get that sports page. When you stole it yesterday, I was saving a lady from getting killed. Do you believe me or do I have to show you the paper to prove it?"

"No, no, I believe you. But I won't give it to you!"

"Why?!!?"

"You seem to be wasting it by not getting rich."

"It's against the rules! Now give it to me!!"

It was mere seconds later that Marissa entered the office. Gary paused (from practically strangling the guy) and cleared his throat.

"Gary?"

"Yes, Marissa?"

"I can't see what's going on."

"I know that, Marissa."

"But I don't want to know anyway."

"Good. I don't want to tell you anyway."

"Then it works out great, huh, Gar?"

"I'd say."

Marissa walked over to the file cabinet, pulled out a folder, and quietly left the office.

The guy leapt onto Gary and the fight resumed.

Gary was a lot younger and stronger, but Hank had an obvious weight advantage. Once you got pinned by him, you were _pinned_. That was that.

Gary was sure that his black eye, which had gone down quite a bit, was returning and going to bring a friend. Somehow the thought pumped him enough to shove the guy off him and hit his head squarely against the wall.

Gary took the page from the guy's hands in his unconscious moment. "Yes!" He ran to Marissa, to ask her what to do with him until he woke up--and then when he did wake up--!

"Marissa! I got it!"

"Is he conscious?"

Man, she was good. The one simple question sent Gary into stammers. "Um...well...actually, no."

"I thought not. He's not bleeding, is he?"

"Nope."

"Then he'll be fine 'til he wakes up. Go watch him."

"Good idea. I knew you'd come up with something."

Gary re-entered the office, only to find...

NOTHING!

"Aww no, he's gone! Can it get any worse?"

He informed Marissa, who consoled him with the fact that he'd probably never see the guy again.

Gary simply nodded and reached for the paper to get on the day's rescues.

"Oh no."

"What is it, Gary?"

"He got the rest of the paper! I gotta go find him!" He ran through the swinging steel double doors of the kitchen. Almost instantly he was back and handed Marissa the sports page. "It's safer with you." She nodded and he left--again.

* * *

Gary found the guy's apartment--across town--three hours later.

He pounded the door, "HANK!!! HANK YOU IDIOT OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW OR I'M GONNA OPEN IT FOR YOU! _I NEED THAT PAPER_!!!"

There was no answer.

Gary used his shoulder for a battering ram and had the flimsy deadbolt popped open in two or three tries. He saw a window and ran to it. He stuck his head out the window and saw Hank to the left--on a window-washer's scaffold.

"HANK!"

"Paper boy! No! I have turned in my two week's notice and I'm gonna retire in style!"

"Hank, there are people who might die if I don't have that paper."

"So? What do I care? What should _you_ care?"

There was a loud snap and one of the scaffold's ropes broke and suddenly the scaffold went from hanging at 90 degrees to 55. Hank grabbed the remaining rope and screamed. "HEEELLLP!!!"

Gary banged his head on the windowpane. _I must have the world's worst luck..._

Despite that, he stepped out onto the itty-bitty ledge that seemed as if it could very easily crumble at any second. He inched toward the scaffold. "Don't worry, Hank, it's gonna be okay. I'm not gonna let you fall." _Even if you deserve it._ "I'm coming, Hank."

"Shouldn't you call 911?"

"If I had my paper I'd know!!"

Gary got behind him and reached for a rope. "Hang on, Hank. Stay calm."

"I'M HANGING SIX STORIES ABOVE A CONCRETE SIDEWALK AND YOU WANT ME TO STAY CALM???"

"YES! And quit kicking!" Gary couldn't catch hold of the rope because it was waving around so much. As Hank tried to keep his feet still Gary finally grabbed it. "Yes! Now, Hank, I'm going to pull this toward the wall, and then I'll help you up."

"Hurry!" he shouted.

Gary's plan worked. He got Hank up against the wall and Hank clawed into the brick. Gary sat on the ledge and reached down to help him up. It was a few seconds that took several years, but Hank was finally up on the ledge with Gary. They slowly and meticulously inched back to the open window and fell into Hank's living room.

Gary looked at him. "If I had my paper I could have been here ten minutes ago and talked you off of that scaffold. Now do you understand why I need my paper?"

Hank nodded and pulled a dustbunny-covered tomorrow's edition out from under his couch. "Here you go, bud. Keep up the good work."

"Thanks. And keep it quiet, okay, pal?"

"Yeah. Sure."

* * *

It was four o'clock before Gary entered the office at McGinty's.

"Busy day?" Marissa asked. She knew he'd gotten it.

"Understatement."

"Mmm. Go take a shower and relax," she ordered.

"I was going to. Hey, call up Sora. I feel like a third of a Tonia's pizza."

"No paper plans?"

"Nope." He smiled even though she could not see it.

"All right, I'll call her. Six-thirty-ish?"

"Great."

"Here's your sports page." She handed it to him.

He'd almost forgotten that she had it. "Thanks," he said, taking it. He turned to go upstairs. "Somehow, I think I preferred it when Chuck was the one who was always after it. At least then I didn't have to risk my neck six stories above ground."

Marissa paused.

The Cat jumped up on the table in front of her and meowed.

She smiled ruefully. "I think you're right. It's pointless to try to make sense of him."


	7. Decisions

The door to Gary's apartment burst open and he flew in, Sora in tow.

"Man! It is _cold_ out there!" she cried. "I love it! And I love the winter, and...oh, look, Gary, it's snowing..."

He came to the window beside her. It was snowing. Big, thick, heavy flakes coming down in torrents.

"Snow is my favorite weather, you know that?"

"Yeah, Sora, I knew that. I kind of like it myself when it's not so inconvenient. It's kind of early, though. Not quite November," he said, looking over at the calendar.

"So? This means that there'll be more come real winter. Hey, tomorrow's Saturday. What do ya say? You, me, Stanford Park, snowballs..."

"Sounds great...but the paper..."

"Bernard," she reminded him. The older gentleman, Lucius Snow's best friend, had made it possible for Gary to have a lighter load, even days off when it was called for.

"We'll see what the morning brings," he told her.

"I need to get home, Gary. It's late."

"Of course," he nodded. He leaned in and they shared a short but sweet kiss. "I'll see you tomorrow, paper or no paper. But no guarantees about the snowballs."

She smiled. "I'll agree to that." She walked across the hall and down the stairs, throwing a goodbye to Marissa over her shoulder as she left.

* * *

The next morning dawned overcast, and Sora was well aware of it when she awoke.

 _I love it when I get my perfect days_ , she thought. _There is nothing better in the world than a snowy patch with a gray sky._

The phone rang at eleven o'clock, and Sora knew who it was.

"Gary?"

"Hey, Sora. I had to take care of a few accidents but I have a few hours free, until four-thirty. Do you want to meet me at the park, or McGinty's, or what?"

"I'll meet you out front of McGinty's."

"Okay. See you there."

* * *

It was a close call to say who actually won the snowball fight, but by the time they were through they were so tired they didn't really care.

Sora convinced Gary to plop down in the snow with her and make two snow angels, which, Gary admitted, was more fun than he'd remembered.

Gary stood back and admired their work. "Not bad. I don't think I've ever seen such a big snow angel, though."

She rolled her eyes. "I do at least one every year. It's good for the soul."

"On that I will have to agree with you." He turned and looked at her, with her red hair all glittery from snowflakes, and stars in her shimmering blue eyes, and in that moment was sure he was spending the afternoon with the most beautiful of all God's creations.

He led her to a park bench, where she sat close to him for warmth, and they spent the last hour he could spare just talking.

At home that night, he reflected on the day he'd spent. Or rather, the company he'd kept.

 _I had the greatest time I can remember having in a long time. It's so great being around Sora because every moment is a memory in the making. It's always different_ , he thought. _She's always been the greatest._

That brought on a flood of memories from his senior year, when they'd been high school sweethearts. They had had so many plans and hopes and dreams. He wondered what life might be like now had he not lost her address when he left for college. There would have been no heartbreak from Marcia, no paper, maybe even a few kids. He smiled. _There's no reason that can't still be part of the future._

* * *

A few days passed, and the snow melted a bit, all but disappearing. Sora assured him that it would be back with a vengeance later on.

The next Saturday the paper arrived as usual. He fed the Cat and sat down to read.

The headline was big news. "TRAGIC RAILWAY CRASH Seventy-seven deaths" It was late in the afternoon, so he set it aside to worry over later.

It was the small article on page four that made his blood run cold. "No...it can't be. Sora...killed...the same time as the crash!"

Immediately he called her apartment, but she was gone. He tried to call Bernard as well, but he wasn't home either.

"Now what?" he yelled sarcastically at the Cat.

"Meow."

"Oh shut up!" he called, going to his armoire and throwing on the first shirt and pair of jeans that he could get his hands on. "I'll go look for them. Either one." On his way out he told Marissa what was going on, and what to do if one of them should show up. "Yeah, if Sora gets here, tell her to stay away from Park Street, and if Bernard gets here send him to the train station and call me. I'll call every fifteen minutes."

"Okay. I'll be right by the phone and I'll keep the line clear."

Gary wandered the streets of Chicago. He re-read the article a few times.

"Freak accident...three homeless guys and Sora killed. Trash can fire burned down to an almost-empty can of gasoline, but of course there's just enough, so it explodes, partially destroys two deserted buildings, too."

The quarter-hour check-ins brought no news. Gary didn't know what to do. He tried going by the alley where the trash can was supposed to be, but it wasn't there. Apparently one of the kids dragged it in later. Gary searched for the gas can but it wasn't there either. He even searched several nearby alleys in case the paper had the wrong address, but it wasn't. He tried calling the railway headquarters but no one believed that an anonymous caller could possibly know that a switch was stuck halfway between two settings and that a train would derail.

He kept walking from one accident scene to the other, supposing that whichever one he was closest to at the time would be what he would end up preventing. He kept calling Marissa, and kept trying at both Bernard and Sora's. He called the stable where Sora worked, and no, she wasn't there but they'd call him if she should come in. He called the restaurant where Bernard lived and worked, and he had left early that morning and they didn't know where he went, but they'd call Gary if they heard from him.

Neither one had a cell phone, and the city was simply too big. He'd only be able to do one or the other.

* * *

His heart ached. He had to save Sora, or he might as well fall in front of the train himself. But if he did save Sora, he would always have those 77 lives hanging over his head.

Unless...

He checked the train article again.

He checked his watch.

He didn't have that much time.

* * *

Sora was walking idly down the street when three young men came running out of an alleyway in front of her. She frowned but continued on her way. But then Gary came running out, too.

"Gary--?"

"No time!" he yelled, and the next thing Sora knew she was being jerked in a different direction and hitting the ground across the street very hard.

_KA-BOOOM!_

The explosion filled her ears, and she could feel heat even where she was. She screamed, not knowing what was going on or if she'd live to tell about it.

There were sirens, fire trucks, she assumed, and fire noises, crackles, collapsing floors. She was aware of Gary sitting up and then of him lifting her off the ground and into his arms, cradling her very tenderly.

Tears streaked her cheeks as she looked back where she had been standing, now surrounded by flames, and if that was an explosion she would have been right in its path. Gary was kissing her hair, her face. She remained oblivious to conscious thought for several minutes as she watched firemen hosing everything down.

Finally she spoke.

"What just happened?"

"There was a gas can in the trash can where those guys were burning paper and cardboard to stay warm."

"And I--we--me and them--"

"Yes...you would've died." At this point he was crying too, silently, but there were definitely tears being shed. She buried her face in his chest.

"Sora, Sora, I almost had to sacrifice seventy-seven lives to save you."

"What?" she asked, looking up at him.

"There was a train that was going to crash. I couldn't get a hold of Bernard. I couldn't get the guys to believe me over the phone, and it took me a while to think to go to the place and point it out to one of the guys there. By the time I convinced him to take a look and got him to stop the train, I almost didn't make it here."

She pulled herself up tighter, closer to him, dropping her gaze again. He was warm, and she had a serious case of chills. "They were at the same time?"

"Yes. But if I'd had to make a decision, I would've been here. If you had died, life would be nothing. I might have put myself in front of that train to stop it. Truth is...I love you, Sora."

She jerked her head up. "What?"

"I...I love you."

Emotions tumbled one over the other. Relief, happiness, astonishment. "Oh, Gary, I love you too. I have been waiting so long to hear you say that..." Of course, there came a fresh stream of tears.

Their noses touched, and then their lips met in a kiss unlike anything Sora remembered, even from high school.

When it broke, Gary put an arm under her knees and stood. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder. He was far less shaken by the event than Sora, because he'd been expecting it, so even though he was okay, he knew her nerves were still on edge, and she was too emotionally raw to even think of anything but the here and now.

He knew it must have looked funny for a guy to be carrying a grown woman down the street like that, but there were times when stuff like that just didn't matter. He carried her to McGinty's and into the office, where he set her in a chair.

"Hello, Marissa," he said in a somber tone. "Everything is okay, but I think Sora here could use some hot tea."

Marissa could sense the mood that had followed the pair in, and simply nodded in reply, heading for the kitchen.

Sora looked up at him. "Would it be too much to ask to sit in your lap? I need to be close to you right now. I'm still scared. I might have lost you."

He nodded, helping her to her feet and then back off them as he settled into the chair.

She laid her head on his shoulder, cuddling her forehead against his neck. "Did you really mean that, what you said about loving me?"

"Yes."

"I did too. I mean, I've felt that way for quite a while, but I didn't want to push you..."

"I have too. I just didn't realize it."

Silence pervaded the room. Sora did not cry this time, she was too happy. She had never felt more loved than she did in that moment. Gary loved her, so all was right in her world. Nothing else mattered.

Marissa finally came back with her cup of tea. Sora sipped at the hot liquid, wondering why anyone would drink coffee when there was such a heavenly substitute.

"What happened?" Marissa asked gently.

Gary looked up at her. "The train is okay. Sora's a bit shaken, but nothing that won't pass."

Marissa nodded, and left the two of them alone.

Sora finished her tea and set the mug on the desk. "I'm tired, Gary."

"You want to go home?"

She nodded.

"Can you walk this time?"

Sora smiled. "If you come with me."

"I was going to."

* * *

"Are you sure you'll be okay now?" Gary asked as they entered her apartment.

"I'll be fine."

"Well, if you insist." He put his arms around her waist and he kissed her again.

She smiled up at him. "I insist. See you around?"

"More than ever."

As he left, she closed her door and locked it. She leaned against it and from there sank to the floor.

 _What a day!_ she smiled.


End file.
